ChinaKnowledge.de -
An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature

Pingding Yuefei jilüe 平定粵匪紀略

Aug 22, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

Pingding Yuefei jilüe 平定粵匪紀略 "Military annals of the pacification of the bandits from Guangdong", also called Pingding Yuekou jilüe 平定粵寇紀略 and Dangping fani tushuo 蕩平髮逆圖說 "Illustrated [account] of the pacification of the long-haired bandits [meaning, they did not shave their forehead as required from subjects of the Qing]", is a privately written history of the Taiping rebellion 太平 compiled by the Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) writer Du Wenlan 杜文瀾 (1815-1881), courtesy name Xiaofang 小舫.

Du hailed from Jiaxing 嘉興, Zhejiang and was appointed to high provincial offices in Jiangsu. In 1850 he took part in governor-general Yutai's 裕泰 campaign against the rebel Li Yuanfa 李元發 in Hunan. He also was among the army when the Qing troops besieged Yangzhou 揚州 that was occupied, by the Taiping rebels. It was Du Wenlan's plan to attack the city from the river side. Apart form the 18-juan long Pingding yuefei jilüe he wrote Mantuoluohuage suoji 曼陀羅華閣瑣記, a collection of essays, and the poem anthology Caixiangci 采香詞.

His report of the Taiping rebellion begins in 1850 with Hong Xiuquan's 洪秀全 (1814-1864) uprising in Guangxi and ends in 1864 with the arrestation of the last Taiping ruler. A 4-juan long appendix provides details about the leaders and the administrative system of the Taiping kingdom.

The book was printed in 1869 by the Qunyu Studio 群玉齋, but was because of the many typographic errors reprinted in 1875 by the Yigu Studio 詒谷堂. The last version used the word yuekou 粵寇 in the title, the first version yuefei 粵匪. There is a third print from 1888 that is illustrated with 50 tables. A fourth print from 1893 includes only 24 illustrations, and its title was changed to Dangping fani tushuo. The version from 1875 is included in the series Taiping tianguo ziliao huibian 太平天國資料匯編 from 1979, published by the Zhonghua Shuju Press 中華書局.

Sources:
Gao Wende 高文德, ed. (1995). Zhongguo shaoshu minzu shi da cidian 中國少數民族史大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin jiaoyu chubanshe), 505.
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 920.
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 177.